Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate celebrates her birthday on July 12. World celebrates Malala Day to raise awareness and to help girls get their right to education. Acknowledging her contributions let’s peep into the lives of some other champions of women’s education.
1 The World Economic Forum global gender gap report in 2010 ranked this country 129 out of 134 countries, and the only country to score a zero for female political empowerment. Yet, it houses the world’s largest women-only university spreading over eight million square metres. Identify the country.
2 She is the widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela and of Mozambican president Samora Machel. She is the only woman in history to have been first lady of two separate republics. She is a renowned international advocate for women and children’s rights for many decades. Who is she?
3 The Princess, a Medley, is a long poem published in 1847 highlights the story of a princess who withdraws from the world of men to form a college for women. This was written on the backdrop of the founding of Queen’s College, London, Britain’s first college for women, in 1847. Identify the poet.
4 This is a digital platform powered by an organisation connecting girls to inspiring educational content in 60 countries and 26 languages. It is developed in partnership with Facebook’s Free Basics initiative. NIKE Foundation is the main promoter of this movement. Identify it.
5 Camfed (Campaign for Female Education) is an organisation working in Africa that tackles poverty and inequality by supporting girls to go to school and succeed. They have supported over three million children in five countries to stay in school. Who is the founder?
Answers:
1. Saudi Arabia
(Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University)
2. Graça Machel
3. Alfred Tennyson
4. Girl Effect Mobile (‘Girl Effect’ is the independent non-profit organisation behind the movement)
5. Ann Cotton
Readers question
Q. She was born in 1858 in a Brahmin household in Karnataka. She was a doyen of women’s education and made a plea for improvement in educational syllabus of Indian women before the Lord Ripon’s Commission. Her book, The High Caste Hindu Woman was path-breaking. Identify the woman.
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